RESOURCES
Frenchs Forest was the venue for the first in the 2011 Junior League events, this one organised by Nicole Sellin of Garingal. Nearly 30 juniors competed in the pre-entry competition, with a number of others, notably from East Killara Scouts and Forestville Montessori, entering on the day. The courses offered on this map were Blue, Green, Short Orange and Long Orange. Although The Cemetery map provides only limited bush running opportunities Jim Forbes had managed to set courses which were challenging and offered interesting route choices.
The Blue course was won by Ewan Shingler, (Boys) and Ellen Currie (Girls) whose brother Duncan led the Boys Green course in a time almost seven minutes quicker than the next competitor.
This is possibly due to the valuable experience he gained this year running in the earlier Sydney Summer Series. The Green course took the competitors out into the surrounding area to access various small nature reserves. This required real concentration on route choice and direction as the juniors negotiated the street complex; Barbara Hill had arranged for marshals on major street crossings to provide additional safety.
Bethany and Adam Halmy took home family honours with first places in both Girls and Boys Short Orange courses. This course had an interesting challenge on control No 6 where one route choice required a taped scramble down a mud bank into an area of thick bush. The next leg, which was also shared by the Long Orange, caught out a number of the juniors who chose a route following a pipeline rather than taking the more straightforward road option, only to find that there was no way through the fight marked on the map due to the steepness of the stream gully. Not a bad way to learn about reading contours more carefully! A number of NSW squad members were racing, taking every opportunity to gain more time orienteering, so important with the NSW team selections races coming up at the Queen’s Birthday events later in June. Michele Dawson took first in Long Orange, Matthew Hill first in the boys Long Orange, with good showings from Karla Burnett and Daniel Hill in second places.
The team competition looks interesting with some nine teams registered. Not surprisingly, the Halmy/Hill team have started well at the top of the leader board, but Team Jones is hot on their heels only 2 points behind, with Little Feet, Go Fast and Big Foot teams showing that there will be plenty of excitement this year in this part of the competition.
The next Junior League is on the 19th June at Centennial Park, a parkland map that traditionally produces some very fast results.
